Improved metal-plate bending-machine



N-FEI'ERS. PHDTQiLITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, D C. I

@that l ROBE RT TIPPE TT, OF HARRISBURG, PENNSYL VNIA. Lettere Patent iva-87,224, daad February 23,1869.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

1b all whom 'it ma/y concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT TIPPETT, of Harrisburg, in the county of Dauphin, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and improved Sheet-Metal Bending-Machine; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description ofthe construction and operation of the saine, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a perspective view of the machine.

Figure 2 is a plan of one section of a double housing.

Figure 3 is a plan of the same, with sliding chucks, head-block, and set-screw inserted.

Figure 4 is a plan of one of the two side-rolls.

Figure 5 is a cross-section of roll-trunk and carrierplate.

Figure 6 is a perspective of side-roll sliding-chuck.

Figure 7 is a section of the upper or middle roll.

Figure 8 is a top View of the front of the machine.

My machine is designed, principally, for bending boiler-plate iron, and is constructed in such form of frame-work and gear, as to enable me to mount three rolls in it, and to'adjust, them to any size of sheet-metal, to Hare the rolled sheet at any required angle, and to propel the machinery either by hand or other power.

l It consists of a frame, rolls, and their means of adjustment, and gear-work.

The frame m A T m' A K M, as' shown in g. 1, consists of two double housings, A B and A' B', placed parallel, and the length ofthe rolls proper apart, joined f together by stays mn', on each side, and by a brace beneath the rolls. f

To the double housing A B is bolted, at the rear, ab plate, V V, with which is connected a trunk, T, in a right line with the middle roll R; andwith the said trunk and plate is also connected a roll-shifting device, T.

To the double housing A B is bolted an arched brace, W W, in a line with the middle roll R; and moreover, to the same double housing, beneath said brace, is bolted a frame, M M Z Z H H, on which is mounted the propelling-gear.

The sections of both double housings are made similar in form. They are formed, as shown in fig.'2, with a central cross-brace, 1, 2, 3, 4, on the outside, so as to form a recess, vertically, for the roll-chucks, and to secure strength against the pressure ofthe side-rolls from the centre-roll, in bending heavy plate.

In the centre of the head of the housing is a bearing, F', for the middle roll, made large enough inthe housings A B, g. 1, to permit the roll to be drawn through it'into the trunk T, and made small enough in the housings A B', fig. 1, to lit the journal L, fig..7.

Ooncentric with said bearing F', g. 2, are two similarly-curved slots, E E, which sweep upward as far as the top of the middle roll-bearing F', and sweep downward into the cross-head 1, 2, 3, 4.

Said slots E E are made to t the bearings 2 2 of the sliding chuck, shown in iig. 6, in the manner shown in iig. 3 at L, while the shoulders 1 1 in iig. 6 are made to vtraverse a recess in the walls of the slots E E, as shown in fig. 3.

These parts are so made that when the sliding chucks are in place, and the two shells or sections ofthe housings are bolted together at points h h' lc, iig. 3, they will be kept and guided in their proper places, in moving upor down in the slots EE.

The roll-chucks L L, fig. 3, are moved up or down by the set-screw J, which passes up between the sections of the housings, .and enters and is keyed into a traversing head-block, G, with which the chucks L L are connected by socket-joints S2, andfthe connectingrods z z.

It is by means of this screw J, fig. 3, that the sidewhich is relatively at rest.

on," fig. 2, by which the two double housings, one at each end ofthe rolls, are bound together into a framework, by stays and a brace, as already stated.

The stays m m'm m serve also as a rest for the plates while passing into the rolls. Y

The lowerI extremities of the housings serve as a support for the frame.

The housings are so shaped, by mouldings and curved outlines, as to add st rength, with the least expenditure of metal.

The'side-rolls R E, iig. 1, have journals, L2 L2., iig.

ing chucks, shown in fig. 3, and, at one end, are made Te middle roll has a at or rectangular pintle, V, Iig. 7 made to enter a similarly-shaped cavity in the centre spur-wheel N, iig. 8.

The other end of the middle roll R is full strength, and has bolted to it loosely, a sliding plate or collar, P P, iig. 5, at right angles.

Said collar has two lugs, a a, on opposite sides, which traverse two horizontal slots, made for them through the whole length of the sides of the trunkil, hg. 1, the circular plate of the collar fitting the Vhollow inside of said trunk. le

Said collar has also an arm, @through which a screw,

the roll to which it is attached, out and in. i

The archedv brace W W stands out at 'right angles with the housings A' B', and is bolted to them through treads at the foot of the brace, at 3,6, 4, 5.

e In the summit of the arch is a bearing, for the shaft Ky of the gear-wheel N, shown in igs. 1 and 8.

Said. wheel N is driven by an endless screw, S1 S1, beneath it, which is itself driven by the belt-pulley F, Ey means of intermediate gear-wheels, as s hown in rolls areadjusted in relation to the middlevroll R',

Said housings are also provided with two arms, m l

4, which pass loosely through the eyes L L of the slidlong enough to pass through the double housing, and, s on the outside, to receive the spur-gears d c, as shown xed on an arm at N', winds, to move the collarand g Y,

The intermediate gears, between S S and F, consist of two small wheels, j' h, on shaft c c of the pulley, at the front end of the frame M Z' H, M Z H, and of a small wheel, g, and a large wheel, L, on the shaft of the endless screw SS, which lies across the said frame, next to the housing, and of a large wheel, KK, and a small wheel, i, on a shaft, which is located on the under side of the cheeks of said frame.

The said intermediate gear-wheels f, It, g, Ll, K', t, are all keyed upon the three horizontal shafts, in .the positions as stated, respectively, and said shafts are kept in a horizontal and -parallel position by capped bearings, suited 'to the several journals on, beneath, and at the front end of said frame M Z H.

The endless screw S S is on a shaft with fixed and unadjustable bearings.

The piilley-shaft c can be slid through its bearings, and through the pulley F, by undoing the set-screws s s, which are situated, one on each side of the pulley, in the prolonged hub of said pulley.

Said hub ills the lateral spaces between the inside walls ofthe frame M Z' H and said pulley, so that when the screws s s are set, the pulley-shaft c will be kept in properposition in relation to either set of gears,

f when they are adjusted for different rates of speed.

The shaft which has the wheels K: and i upon it can also be slid and fixed in its bearings, in a similar luanner, for it has a sleeve and set-screw upon it, equivalent to the hub of the pulley F.

Three rates of speed are obtained for the rolls, by adjusting and connecting the above-described gears, as follows:

For fast speed, connect pinion f, on pulley-shaft c, on the left, with wheel K', and that with wheel g, on endless screw-shaft Sl S.

For medium speed, disconnect pinion f, on pulleyshaft c, from the wheel K', by shifting said pulley-shaft to the left, and thus connect thenvheel h, on the right end of the pulley-shaft c, with the wheel L, on the shaft of the endless screw S S1.

For slow speed, connect wheel f, on pulley-shaft o,

#N with wheel K', on the left, and wheel i, on the right oi' the machine, with L, on the shaft'ofthe endlessscr'ew S S.

In all these connections, the wheels which are not specified as connected, are disconnected, and in all these connections, the endless screw S S remains in connection with the wheel N and its connections.

The gearing between N and the rolls, as shown in fig. 8, always remains in connection, because the side spur-wheels d and e, in shifting the rolls, move in concentric arcs to the spur on the middle roll.

VJhen cylinders, or sections of cylinders are to be formed, he rolls are adjusted to a parallel position, shown in iig. l.

When cones, or sections of frusta of cones are to be formed or flared, the side-rolls are elevated at one end, and depressed at the other, by the set-screws J g. 3, as already explained.

The top or middle roll R can be withdrawn through the trunk T, iig. l, when small cylinders are made, which would close ,around the roll, so as to require springing 'to remove thorn from it.

Then sections of boilers, or other large work, are bent, the trunk T is dispensed with, as the plates are tilted out, without diilicnlty, by the rolls themselves.

. The advantages of this machine are as follows:

It can he adj usted to anycurve of tubular work in sheet-metal bending.

It makes more regular curves than can be made by hand and gauge. y

1t saves the hard labor of at least ten men.

It makes strong work, as the metal can be rolled while hot.

Irregular-ities in the thicknesses of' different sheets in the same lot, can be overcome readily by setting the rolls, and reversing the motion before the plate has left the rolls.

It can be adjustedA for thick or thin sheets.

It -has been practically tested on all these points, for some time, at my boiler-works at thisV place.

I claim- 1. The double housings A B, A B', provided with the bearings F', the concentric slots E, and the crossbrace l, 2, 3, 4, constructed and arranged substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

2. The vframe-work A B, A B', M Z H W, combined and arranged substantially in the manner as and for the purpose herein set forth.

3. The sliding chucks L z S2, in combination with the block G, set-screw J, and the rolls R R', substan- .tially as herein set forth.

4. The combination and arrangement of the pulley F, and the spur-gears f g hi K L, with each other, and with the endless screw S, substantially as herein set forth.

5. The wheel N, in combination with the endless screw S, the spur-gears d n e, and the rolls R lt', all arranged to operate in the manner as herein shown and described.

6. The trunk T and screw T', or their' equivalents, in combination with the housings A B and the roll R', when made to operate substantially in the manner as and for the purpose herein specitied.

ROBERT TIPPETT.

Witnesses EUGENE Snr/DER, G. A. SNYDER. 

